


_on⼧the⼧rooftop_

by sonshineandshowers



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Mental Health Issues, Papa!gil, Sometime after 1x20
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:14:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23936653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sonshineandshowers/pseuds/sonshineandshowers
Summary: Gil and Malcolm have a chat on the rooftop of Malcolm's loft, soaking in the sun.
Relationships: Gil Arroyo/Jessica Whitly
Comments: 12
Kudos: 88





	_on⼧the⼧rooftop_

Gil opened the roof door from the loft to Malcolm sprawled out on the tar, shirtless, his fading scar prominent against the rest of his pale skin. One of Malcolm’s eyes cracked at the sound, then closed again with the door.

“Hey, kid,” Gil said.

“Getting my vitamin D,” Malcolm explained.

Gil grabbed the hem of his t-shirt and pulled it off over his head. He sat himself down to Malcolm’s right and laid out, closing his eyes as well.

“Whatcha doing?” Malcolm asked.

“Getting my vitamin D.”

Malcolm turned his head and opened his eyes, Gil’s fresh scar still red with darker tinges to purple and rough against the rest of his skin. Laying beside him, a near mirror to his own, skin color and wound age the only differences. “Does it still hurt?” Malcolm wondered.

“Sometimes,” Gil replied.

Malcolm closed his eyes again, curling and extending his fingers. “It took…a bit for it to go away.”

“Contrary to your fine in a week lie?” Gil responded. “Shocking.”

Malcolm gave a little chuckle.

“Not hitting anything important, either? Also bullshit.”

“Maybe a little.” They had closely monitored Gil for infection due to damage to his intestines. Malcolm didn’t remember that part of his own recovery, but his mother had told him he was pumped full of antibiotics. And painkillers…

“We need to come up with better things to have in common,” Gil joked, but his need to not have either of them hurt again was very apparent.

“Like laying out on my roof?” Malcolm smiled.

“Your mother would think we’re nuts, huh?” Malcolm could hear the smile in Gil’s voice in return.

“She’d try to give me pills instead.”

“You _are_ still taking them?” Gil checked.

“Yeah.” With precision. He had enough problems — he didn’t need to add that to the mix.

“She’s just worried.”

“You here hiding from her?”

“She deemed working on the car too much activity,” Gil sounded frustrated. With good reason. His mother could be a bit…overbearing.

“She doesn’t like the noise. Tried every technique in the book with Sunshine.” Too messy, too loud, an eyesore. Even tried to _hide_ her much to Malcolm’s dismay.

“She’s a sweet bird.”

“Tell that to my mother.” Malcolm rolled his eyes behind his lids.

“We should go back to the beach.” Gil must’ve been enjoying the sun as much as Malcolm was. Malcolm found the warmth across his chest and face refreshing.

“Coney Island?” Malcolm suggested, remembering Jackie and Gil taking him several times when he was younger.

“We can.”

“Mother won’t go,” Malcolm indicated. Might not be a bad thing…

“That’s alright. Guys day,” Gil agreed with his thoughts.

“Father-son time.” Malcolm smiled.

“Probably don’t tell her that either.” Gil chuckled.

“Learned that a _long_ time ago,” Malcolm emphasized.

“Keep staying out here, you might actually pick up a tan.” Gil poked Malcolm’s pale skin.

Malcolm opened his eyes. “Doubt it.”

“I don’t know, you seem to be turning a shade darker to me.” Red, maybe, Malcolm felt his cheeks warm. Gil turned his head toward him. “How you been?”

Malcolm kept looking at the sky. “You know, the night terrors are delightful, I can’t get dead people out of my head, my friend is still in pain, and passing a psych eval is a pipe dream.”

“There isn’t an eval.”

“It’ll come.”

“Pain’s manageable.”

“That’s what I say too, remember?” Malcolm turned his head to meet Gil’s eyes.

“No one forgets you, Bright. Especially not me.” Gil gave him a small smile. “Have you tried going out? Having some sort of social life?”

“Are you trying to send me on a date?” Malcolm shook his head and turned his head back to the sky. “You’ve been spending too much time around my mother.”

“I’m trying to get you to attempt some fun. Talk to someone who’s not me or Sunshine.”

“JT, Dani, and Edrisa count,” Malcolm listed them off, fingers flipping up with each person.

“Yes. But kid, you _can_ have non-work friends.” So people told him. In practice, not so much. He spent all his time there — of course his coworkers were his friends.

“I can’t date right now.” Not — _no_.

“Not a date. Just spending some time hanging out.”

“I’m not ready,” Malcolm said more firmly and clenched his fist. “I thought…you would get that.”

“I do.” Gil took a deep breath reaching for his words. “Took me four years to go out with your mother.”

“Gil, I didn’t mean — “ Malcolm scrambled to recover, but Gil finished first.

“Eve wasn’t your Jackie,” Gil said plainly, and silence cut through the roof.

Malcolm could hear cars on the street, eking by as it approached rush hour. Faint music from the café a few doors down. The pound of his heart as it pattered along, fighting not to release a lashing remark.

So many people around the block, yet no one knew of the two men on the roof, bound together with ties stronger than blood, looking to each other to determine whether they would float or drown.

Malcolm knew neither one of them was being fair. And he had no interest in tarnishing Jackie’s memory. He chose to move forward instead, admitting, “I miss someone wanting me.”

Traces of worry…pain came through Gil’s eyes, both men’s cheeks laying on the tar. “We all want you.”

“You have to — we all work together.”

“Kid, check your Ivy League education,” Gil scoffed. “I would not define our relationship as coworkers.”

“I’m sorry.” Malcolm pulled at his hair. “I just keep making this worse.”

“It’s alright. I’m sorry I pushed.”

Malcolm pulled his knees up, then stretched his legs back out. “Shit, none of this is easy.”

“I still can’t take this off,” Gil swirled his ring around his finger.

“You know you don’t have to.”

“Your mother said the same thing.”

Malcolm tipped his hand back and forth at his side. “Us agreeing is a little scary, but I’ll allow it.”

Gil gave a small smile in response, his expression wistful. “It doesn’t get any easier if you don’t make an effort to try. Only harder the more time passes.”

“Maybe I’ll play some more pool with Tally and JT. See if I meet someone.” Or at least improve at pool. He had to get a one-up on JT at something. Or maybe they could go axe-throwing…

“Or I hear coffee chats are a thing.” Gil turned his head back to the sky and closed his eyes.

“I’m too annoying for those. People don’t usually seem to be up for a vigorous debate.”

“Acquired taste.”

“Worked on the rest of the team. One big lick of Bright,” Malcolm talked with his hands.

Gil shook his head.

“That came out weird.” He reached for a better option, “Bright-cicle? Bright-pop? Brandy?”

“Stop,” Gil demanded, cutting off the list of eating references.

“Back to silence.” Malcolm took in the calming hue of the sky, then closed his eyes.

“Sounds good.”

“ _Malcolm!_ “ Jessica’s voice called from inside his loft.

Malcolm held his index finger up to his lip in case Gil had opened his eyes to look at the disturbance, and the two of them lay quietly soaking up more of the sun’s rays, getting their vitamin D.

* * *

_fin_


End file.
